Heritage Links promotes Doug Wright

Heritage Links announced the promotion of Doug Wright to vice president, strategic planning. Wright, who joined the firm in 2012, previously served as project manager.

Wright will be responsible for overseeing and improving new and existing strategies to develop business and manage projects effectively. His role includes identifying and evaluating new business opportunities, cultivating relationships with architects and clients, participating in project estimating, and reviewing project bids and proposals. The position also entails the overall supervision of projects to ensure their profitable and successful completion, with a focus on unique problem solving. Wright additionally will direct effective marketing tools, social media and advertising decisions for Heritage Links.

Wright has been a student of golf course design, construction and maintenance since the age of 18, and he has held professional positions in all three of these respective areas of the golf industry. He has played and studied hundreds of the world's most notable courses throughout the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Scotland, France and Australia. Among his other talents, he is a notable landscape photographer whose work has been featured in magazines, as well as the marketing materials for various golf courses.

Wright is a graduate of Lehigh University where he earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering.

United Turf Alliance introduces trio of ArmorTech products

United Turf Alliance recently announced the launch of three new product additions to its ArmorTech portfolio. These products – ArmorTech TETRA, ArmorTech GOLD STANDARD 45 and ArmorTech ZOXY-PG – are the result of significant effort and represent UTA’s ongoing dedication to a customer-focused portfolio.

ArmorTech GOLD STANDARD 45 is a comprehensive plant health tool that utilizes technology to deliver rapid, efficient plant uptake and utilization. Use of Gold Standard 45, either alone or as part of a spray program, will promote stronger, healthier turfgrass plants better able to withstand the rigors of intense maintenance and weather.

ArmorTech TETRA is a premium herbicide containing 2,4-D, Fluroxypyr, Triclopyr and Flumioxazin for fast, selective weed control in ornamental lawns and turfgrasses. The ester formulation offers excellent early- and late-season control of difficult-to-manage weeds including ground ivy and wild violet. This four-way herbicide provides control of more than 250 broadleaf weeds.

ArmorTech ZOXY-PG is a granular fungicide combining 0.31% Azoxystrobin and 0.75% Propiconazole. A broad-spectrum fungicide, it utilizes both root and leaf uptake to deliver preventative and curative control up to 28 days. ZOXY-PG targets foliar, stem and root diseases such as leaf and stem blights, leaf spots, patch diseases, anthracnose, fairy rings, mildews, molds and rusts of turfgrass.

“Introducing one new product is a task these days,” United Turf Alliance CEO George Furrer said. “The launch of three products simultaneously confirms our owners’ ongoing commitment to be the supplier of choice to professional turfgrass managers. In a time of unprecedented global supply volatility, we have two choices: stay on the sideline or invest for the future. We choose the latter.”

Celebrity event will have quieter maintenance moments

In the environmentally sensitive Lake Tahoe area, celebrities such as Stephen Curry, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo and Charles Barkley will be competing in the 2018 American Century Golf Championship, July 10-15. They’ll revel in the spectacular natural beauty of the destination and only hear the roar of appreciative galleries.

What they won’t be hearing is any obtrusive noise from course maintenance equipment. That’s because Greenworks Commercial Tools have provided quiet and environmentally friendly battery-powered tools for the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course maintenance staff. The contribution of outdoor landscape products advances the golf course’s efforts to be responsible stewards of the natural environment, a reflection of the growing trend in golf course maintenance and management, nationally.

“Our commitment to best-in-class environmental practices reflects our overall philosophy throughout Edgewood operations to continually pursue the most appropriate approach to golf course management and maintenance,” superintendent Brad Wunderlich said. “Working with Greenworks Commercial Tools and adopting their lithium-ion battery equipment has afforded us a measurable step forward in our reduction of toxic CO2 emissions from gas-powered outdoor equipment, as well as significant reduction in annoying and ear-damaging noise levels. Greenworks has demonstrated how lithium-ion gear meets every test in terms of power and run time, plus delivering remarkable advantages in our quest to remain ‘green.’”

The array of outdoor tools that Greenworks has donated to the Edgewood staff during its preparation for the American Century Championship includes backpack blowers, chainsaws, stick edgers and pole saws – all powered by Greenworks Commercial’s’ proprietary 82-volt lithium-ion battery and charging systems.

“We’ve realized great success and overwhelming acceptance of our award-winning 82-Volt system of outdoor power equipment,” said Tony Marchese, director of independent retail for Greenworks North America. “It provides new solutions for landscape and turf management professionals who encounter new noise and emission ordinances every day. Leaders in ‘green’ practices are seriously embracing lithium-ion technologies for their outdoor power equipment needs, and Greenworks Commercial Tools is leading the way.”

On a national scale, the adoption of battery-powered lawn and landscape equipment has reached a tipping point. In 2017, for the first time, battery-powered leaf blowers, for example, outsold gas-powered blowers, a reflection of a trend towards gear that is better for the environment and for the operators of the equipment, as well.

“We’ve seen greater efficiency and less fatigue from our crews, thanks to reductions in equipment vibrations and user-friendly features such as push-button starters that eliminate the annoyances of pull cords on gas equipment,” Wunderlich said.

The Reserve names Alan Stuessy superintendent

Alan Stuessy has been named golf course superintendent at The Reserve in California’s Coachella Valley. Stuessy comes to The Reserve from PGA West in La Quinta, where he has served as superintendent of the renowned Stadium Course and the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course since 2009.

“The quality of Alan’s work and reputation is an ideal match for The Reserve Club,” general manager Michael P. Kelly said. “After consultation with respected agronomists, and an extensive interview process, Alan was the clear choice to continue the tradition of enriching The Reserve’s outstanding reputation as one of the finest golf courses in the Valley.”

Stuessy, 39, is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor of science in agronomy and has 15 years of experience directly managing a variety of turfgrass surfaces, particularly grasses under extreme environment stresses. He began his career on the East Coast, at the highly regarded Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey and Chestnut Ridge Country Club in Maryland.

At PGA West, Stuessy worked directly with the PGA TOUR on three different courses for the Career Builder Challenge (2016-2018), Humana Challenge (2013-2014) and PGA TOUR Qualifying School Finals (2011). He is a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (Class A) and Hi-Lo Desert Golf Course Superintendents Association.

“I am really excited about being part of The Reserve,” said Stuessy, who lives in La Quinta with his wife Brooke and daughter Addison. “It is such a truly natural setting, as well as being one of the finest clubs in the Coachella Valley. Since its founding, the club has always been respected for its quality standards and amenities. I look forward to ensuring the golf course remains a source of pride for our members.”

Stuessy joins The Reserve at an exciting time in the club’s history, as both the clubhouse and golf course are undergoing significant projects. The golf course project has a primary goal of optimizing the quality of the bentgrass greens and enhancing the year-round fairway turf conditions. The focus will be on a new irrigation and water distribution system that will more efficiently regulate the amount of water required to maintain desirable conditions. No alterations are planned for the unique “21-hole” Weiskopf-Morrish design, an 18-hole championship routing plus a loop of three “trophy holes” for play and practice.

“The culture of the club is impressive, with its environmental direction and its emphasis on preserving the natural desert setting,” Stuessy said. “The golf course is allowed to be there, so it is important to continue to maintain its role in a thriving environment.”

Sole searching: Turfgrass researchers seek least damaging golf shoes

Study conducted by the University of Arkansas and Michigan State finds flatter soles and fewer cleats cause most damage to greens.

After hours of patient mowing, fertilizing and irrigating, there are few things golf course superintendents hate more than seeing their pool-table-smooth greens shredded by spike-shod players.

“Back in the 1990s, there was a period when metal spikes – which had been customary on golf shoes – began to be banned,” said Doug Karcher, professor-horticulture for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “Not only because of the damage to the turf, but also because of the damage they’d do to the course infrastructures like wooden bridges and floors in the clubhouse. By 1997, most of the courses banned metal spikes.”

While today’s golf shoes are light years from those metal spikes, they must still serve the same purpose; be comfortable and offer the player enough traction in the grass to anchor an effective swing. That same traction also means the shoe carries the potential to tear the turf.

“The quality of the putting surface is how supers are judged and make a living,” Karcher said. “If the shoes cause damage to the greens, it can negatively impact their career.”

In spring 2016, Karcher and Thomas Nikolai, PhD, a.k.a, “The Doctor of Green Speed” from Michigan State from the department of plant, soil and microbial sciences, set out to look at the issue with support from the U.S. Golf Association.

The idea for the research began a year earlier.

“In 2015, we saw on social media and on superintendents’ bulletin boards complaints about new shoe models,” Karcher said. “Some claims were being made that the newer shoes were doing as much damage as some of the worst alternative spikes of the 90s.”

With that in mind, Karcher and Nikolai formulated two major objectives:

1.To look at a variety of different golf shoes to see if they were as bad as the metal spiked shoes. Their research including those with very aggressive treads and cleats and those that are more like a teaching shoe a club pro would wear all day long.

2. Secondly, “to see if there are management practices that course superintendents use that could cause more or less damage by a given golf shoe,” Karcher said. The two looked at sand topdressing, irrigation, grooming and fertilizer rates on four different greens in Michigan State and Arkansas and on Bermuda and bentgrass and annual bluegrass.

For objective one, the two simulated foot traffic on turf plots with different putting green heights at more than a dozen sites a across Arkansas, Michigan, Naples, Florida, and Carnoustie and St. Andrews, Scotland, home of the world’s oldest professional golf tournament, The Open.

The findings

“Our data is basically showing there are differences among the grasses and there are differences among the shoes,” Nikolai said. “The big meat and potatoes is how the putting surfaces are maintained.”

“We’re doing research on how to best take care of the putting surface so it minimizes the impact of any shoe,” he added.

Karcher said “Today’s shoes do not do as much damage as the metal spikes. It’s just a perception.”

Karcher said that “today’s superintendents do such a good job, the grasses are so improved, better groomed and close to perfect that any imperfection caused by a shoe is more noticeable today. It’s as if the supers are victims of their own success.”

Nikolai added, “Ironically, golf course superintendents have created such smooth putting surfaces that some golf cleat/sole designs have become too aggressive. Case in point, almost no one complained about spike marks prior to the 1990s.”

Another finding is that the shoes many golfers and superintendents complained about the most had flatter soles and fewer cleats.

“They only had seven versus nine or 11 for other shoe models,” Karcher said. “With fewer cleats, there were more pounds per square inch per cleat – making them more aggressive on the turf.”

The researchers looked at wear on the turf, simulating 30 rounds of golf on a putting green. “We had golfers grade the surfaces, A, B, C, D or F. An ‘A’ would show no sign of being walked on. ‘B’ has some signs, but won’t affect the putt,” Karcher said.

In Arkansas, ultradwarf Bermudagrass can survive with much more aggressive shoes without having too much damage. Arkansas has many golf courses that are ultradwarf because the Bermudagrass is heat tolerant.

There was also no key difference between annual bluegrass and bentgrass. Both showed a fair amount of damage, but bentgrass showed slightly more damage perhaps because of its stolons – sideway stems, which annual bluegrass lacks.

Irrigation and drainage also had a role in damage. More moisture meant more damage. Where play is heavy, the turf may need more irrigation for general wear tolerance and recovery, but the turf must also be dry enough to play.

“It’s a fine balance,” Karcher said. “Most superintendents are using portable meters to use just the right amount of water.”

The process

So, how exactly do you simulate 30 rounds of golf on 128 turfgrass plots? With grad students.

“Backbreaking work,” Karcher said. “We bought all of our research techs a pair of shoes with a sole that was fairly aggressive.”

The testers were sent out to the plots in the morning striding and squatting in imitation of golfers walking and picking up their balls; a ritual that at times looked something like a conga line with rainbow feet.

“The golf shoes we wore to implement the treatments were rather ‘flamboyant’,” said grad student Dan Sandor. “The shoes were predominantly a royal blue color, accented with bright orange toes and heels coupled with lime-green shoe laces. Way too colorful for probably anyone of our group, or even just for regular golf play in general.”

Karcher said: “People were slowing down from the road to watch.”

“I know for some, repeatedly bending down -- i.e., essentially doing squats / working out --at that hour in the morning was not ideal and the effects of the ‘exercise’ were felt and expressed later on in the afternoon, and sometimes even the next day,” Sandor said. “However, it seemed to be a fun group exercise and clearly a ‘non-scientific’ method to determine who was the more fit or in-shape of our team.”

The tests were something of a flashback for grad student Michelle Wisdom, who is currently working on research about pollinators.

“It was like we'd been dropped into a ballet class,” she said. “I remember floating from one plot to the next, practicing my demi-plié although after several minutes I think ‘PLODDING’ and ‘TRIPPING’ and ‘COLLAPSING’ might be better terms for what was going on,” she said. “We had fun, though, because that group of people always had fun together.”